YouTube launches official comedy channel

YouTube has already ventured into education and politics, but now they’re taking a shot at the funny business.

YouTube’s Official Comedy channel quietly started uploading clips from comedians Louis C.K., Jim Gaffigan and Aziz Ansari a couple weeks ago, but they premiered five original shows Thursday as part of their effort to bring premium original programming to the website.

Jokes Through The Ages is an in-depth look at joke origins, and while some jokes might be as easy to find as the latest Internet meme, some can go back centuries, such as Michael Scott’s favorite zing (and everyone’s favorite sexual innuendo), “That’s what she said.”

That’s what she said.

Joe Derosa and Kurt Metzger are “a couple of guys who are angry about a lot of stuff.” In Overrated, they complain about many of the latest fads and trends, like a real-life Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show.

Comedians relive their most memorable hecklers in Behind the Heckle. Seth Herzog’s story takes a serious turn as he recalls being threatened by the friends and family of a deceased woman one night at a show.

Many comedians test out their material at comedy clubs, as Myq Kaplan did in the premiere episode of Funny Cause It’s True, when he tested the reaction to his claim that people don’t know the difference between “gay” and “vegan.”

Ever wanted to be an a-hole? Christian Finnegan shows you how to “a less likeable you” in You’re an A-Hole. The first episode explores how to be that obnoxious sports fan that always ends up sitting next to you at the big game.

Official Comedy also offers easy-to-access playlists of classic sets, performances by comedy giants including Jerry Seinfeld, Don Rickles and Joan Rivers, and other clips both onstage and backstage.

But with only 1,690 subscribers thus far, Official Comedy has yet to land a punchline.